Illini Bobcats sweep Country for City Series title

Thursday

Jul 4, 2013 at 12:48 PMJul 4, 2013 at 12:52 PM

Illini Bobcats finish 12-0 season with City Series championship

Erich Murphy

Illini Bobcat did not fall into the trap that many undefeated teams have in sports — youth to the professional ranks — have been sucked into many times. Behind the hitting and defense of Jaden Hershe, Illini Bobcat completed a sweep of Country Financial Wednesday evening to garner the City Series and complete an undefeated season. Hershe had three base hits and made a key running catch in left field as Illini Bobcat scored a 7-4 victory in topping off a 12-0 campaign. “What a great catch he made,” Illini Bobcat head coach Kevin Lipke said. “That’s the thing we work on.” Hitting in the sixth and seventh slots, Hershe and Murphy Basham dispelled the stereotype of middle-of-the-order batters by combining for half of Illini’s 10 base hits and driving in three runs. They each reached base three times. “You know what’s funny about that? Jaden and Murphy were sitting in the dugout before the game started and said to them that needed them to hit today,” Lipke said. “I said that before to kids, but to those guys I think it meant something. They had a certain responsibility. The top four hitters did OK and Jaden and Murphy came through.” Hershe and Basham went to work early by delivering run-scoring singles in the first inning as Illini Bobcat touched Country starter Clayton Haase for three runs right off the bat. Hershe’s hit went through the right side and plated Andrew Hamilton, while Basham’s base knock went through the middle and drove in Robert Diemer for the three-run lead. Luke Fox, who got the ball for the second game in the best-of-three set, led off the game for Illini with a base hit. He scored the first run on a wild pitch. Fox then made things seem eerily familiar to Country Financial when he took the bump in the bottom of the first. He got Leighton Gerdes to ground out to second and then fanned Colton Clesson. It was the same way Country began the first game on Tuesday. In fact, other than Haase’s base hit in the first, the similarity to the opener was scary for the team in green. Hamilton got a groundout and then struck out the next six batters he faced on Tuesday. After the base hit Wednesday, Fox set down the next five Country batters on strikes, giving him six Ks in seven batters. Like Hamilton, Fox did not give up a run in his three innings of work and left with a lead. Also like the first game, Haase, who came on in relief in the opener, settled down after a rough start. He had a stretch of retiring seven straight before yielding two runs in the fourth inning. Kobe Fox led off the fourth for Illini with a ringing triple to right field. He scored on Hamilton’s groundout. Hershe singled with two outs. He stole second and scored when, while swiping third, the throw went into left field. Illini Bobcat found out that even a 5-0 lead is not secure. Country rallied with three runs in the fourth off Illini reliever Isaac Nollen. A dropped pop up by Nollen helped keep the inning alive for Country. Clesson, who had singled, scored on a wild pitch to get Country on the board after Haase reached on the error by Nollen. Trey Edinger coaxed a free pass and Jacob Bressner singled to left to plate Haase and Edinger, making it 5-3. Illini threatened to blow the game open in the fifth by loading the bases with two outs. Country head coach Steve Haase brought in Clesson, who ended the threat by getting Nollen on a comebacker. “Every practice and every game we talked about not getting yourself down,” Lipke said. “You have to continue to work at it. It was natural not to let it shake them.” Lipke decided to go with the left-handed Hamilton to close out the game. Hamilton was nearly perfect in his three innings in Game 1. He wasn’t as dominating in relief in Game 2, but he was effective. He faced four batters in the fifth inning and five in the sixth. Illini padded its lead in the top of the sixth with two runs. Hamilton tripled to right-center with one out and then Diemer hit a comebacker to Clesson. Haase pulled his foot on the play at first and Diemer reached safely as Hamilton crossed the plate. Hershe followed with a double to right that drove in Diemer to make it 7-3. Haase singled and eventually scored in the bottom of the sixth but Hamilton was able to close out the win with a comebacker from Bressner. “We tried to make a comeback and didn’t quite make it. They had some key hits,” Coach Haase said. “We had a good season. They all improved over the season.” Luke Fox got the win after striking out seven, walking one and giving up one hit in three innings. Hamilton, who got the win in Game 1, added a save in Game 2 after yielding a run on two hits and a walk. He struck out four in two innings. Nollen gave up three runs on two hits and a walk to go with one punchout. Hershe had three hits, including a two-bagger, and drove in two runs to lead the Illini Bobcat offense. Basham had two hits and a run batted in. Kobe Fox and Hamilton each tripled and Luke Fox, Nollen and Bradon Hodgson each singled. Haase had two hits for Country Financial (6-6). Clesson and Bressner each added a single. Bressner had two RBIs. Haase took the loss in the bump after yielding five runs on six hits and four walks in 4 2-3 innings. He struck out six and hit a batter. Clesson was tagged for two runs on four hits. He fanned three in 1 1-3 innings of relief.

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